Chicago Zinefest?

Yo Neil, yo quimbys people, yo chicago! We gonna do a zinefest? there were rumors floating about.... I'd like to help make that happen, though I don't want to be the main bunny in charge or anything.... but i'll help! any thoughts?

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It's Neil! CZF organizer/occasional CUL volunteer. We would love to have NoCoast, CUL and APC invloved in this. I'm totally planning on coming to the CUL meeting. I think I might have contacted Reba at NoCoast, and she might have read "Nell" instead of "Neil," I know I'm ALWAYS getting confused when I have CUL emails in my inbox as to whether they're addressing me or you, most of the time I think it's to me, but they're really to you, and then there have been a few times, I thought they were addressed to you, but they were actually addressed to me. Covered in Confusion!

The zine fest should be really exciting, and the more people and groups we have involved in it, the better it will be! I'm really looking forward to the meeting.

Chicago Underground Library said:

Hey,

Nell from Chicago Underground Library here.

We have our own meeting on the 30th at 3pm but I'm going to send a few of our folks to attend since I have to start setting up at 1pm. I admit that I had no idea this was chugging along (we've been moving and have been a bit underwater lately), and we were recently contacted by our friends at No Coast who thought we were organizing this. So they want to be involved, we want to be involved, I'm sure APC would want to be involved, and I'm sure Center for Book and Paper Arts folks would want to be, too, unless they're the ones who already hooked you up with the space at Columbia and are already on board.

Please keep me in the loop at nell@underground-library.org and look out for some librarians to drop in on Saturday morning.

And if you want to migrate over to CUL for the community meeting at 3pm, it's all about our programming and plans for serving the small press over the next year and I'm sure folks attending that would want to know what's going on with the fest, too. 621 W. Belmont, 2nd Fl.

There is still a lot of planning to be done, however. At this point we are excited to open up the floor to the many people who have expressed interest in helping out. On Saturday, January 30th we will be having an open meeting to discuss where we stand, as well as what still needs to be done to make this event as awesome as it has the potential to be. The meeting will be held at 11:30 AM on Saturday, 12/30 at the Logan Square Library (3030 W Fullerton Ave., just a couple blocks from the Blue Line California stop), so bring your ideas, contributions, and experience, and get involved!

That's all for now. Stay posted, follow us here or on twitter or facebook, spread the word, and get excited!

question about the zinefest. How strict are you on the "zine" part of zine fest? will there be music vendors, or crafter types? or is this a ZINEfest? Cool either way, just curious.

for example, i have some friends who make journals and greeting cards and whatnot out of recycled/reused items. (http://www.myspace.com/reusefirst) They've tabled with me at Indie Arts Market, and other type events, and people generally love their stuff. But not exactly zines, ya know?

Hi. We've talked about this a bit. Other things will definitely be allowed, as long as the emphasis at each table is zines. So if your friends got together with maybe you, or another zinester, and shared a table, that would be great! We just want there to be a zine at every table, so it's a zine-focused event. Chicago already has other great fests for crafts and other diy goods, so we wanted to try to keep it narrowed down a bit. Though we're not going to rule with an iron fist or anything.

Billy Da Bunny said:

question about the zinefest. How strict are you on the "zine" part of zine fest? will there be music vendors, or crafter types? or is this a ZINEfest? Cool either way, just curious.

for example, i have some friends who make journals and greeting cards and whatnot out of recycled/reused items. (http://www.myspace.com/reusefirst) They've tabled with me at Indie Arts Market, and other type events, and people generally love their stuff. But not exactly zines, ya know?

Updates:
It is now Saturday, March 13th, 2010, here its 5:50am. The CZF officially kicked off yesterday with events at Quimbys and Johalla Gallery. In a few hours things will begin heating up at 1104 south Wabash. For the record i've never seen that many people all crammed into Qvimbys all at one time. Also the art show and corresponding Gadabout film fest added a nice touch later in the night.

In other news: Fall Out Boy is on indefinte hiatus/broke up as of the first week of February (I dont think there has been any significant Redwalls news)- so consider that in the fob/redwalls dichotomy. However, use the key/ride up troys bucket is pretty fixed. As of this writing, I still have not heard any responses to those questions from the organizers. I'll keep in mind what Monika Nunez wrote over two months ago.

I guess I thought there would have been more activity on WMZs in regard to the CZF, but hey, it is what it is.

Don't forget that at 7:30pm tonight there is an afterparty at Ball Hall with music and readings and its free, what?!

Mr. Adita, hopefully the fest speaks for itself at this point!
Mostly, we just hope you had fun. Thanks for being involved.

The turn out for night one of the fest was better than we could have expected. It was a great night of good friends, new friends, and lots of art and talent. Shirley temples were had and funny short films were viewed. Thanks to everyone for coming out and making the Chicago Zine Fest what it is!

Check out the rest of the event today! There will be over 100 exhibitors selling their zines down at Columbia. Kids have come from as far as Toronto, Ashville, Richmond, Boston, etc!

John Porcellino will talk about the early years of the zine world and how he got started making King-Cat Comics.

What Myth-Making Means: A Workshop on Self-Mythologizing - 1:15

Led by Jim Joyce.

This workshop will be a very brief intro to what mythology is traditionally understood to be, where it comes from, followed by discussion of why/how histories are remembered, and what we can take from our lives, to investigate for mythologizing.

Self-Publishing vs. Working with a Publisher - 2:15

Led by Jeffrey Brown.

Jeffrey Brown will discuss the differences/advantages/etc. between self-publishing and working with publishers.

A Guide to Getting Real - 3:15

Led by Monica Anderson.

A discussion about the idea of writing without reservation or a fear of consequences, leading to a conversation about attendees experiences with writing about their personal lives and the pros and cons that come with.

Mailing Materials to Prisoners - 4:15

Led by Midwest Books to Prisoners.

Come learn how to send materials to our comrades behind bars! We'll have up-to-date information about political prisoners and prisoners of war and will help you write letters, fill out postcards and send your works to those held captive in America's prisons.

7:30pm-? After Show, featuring music by Letters to the Moon, Eric Ayotte, and World's Smallest Puzzle, with zine readings by Rosy Phinick, Aaron Cynic, and Richard Wehrenberg.
Ball Hall, 1621 N Kedzie #3
The show is FREE! There will be vegan ice cream and other food to share until it runs out!
Please be aware that this space is not wheelchair accessible.

Updates:It is now Saturday, March 13th, 2010, here its 5:50am. The CZF officially kicked off yesterday with events at Quimbys and Johalla Gallery. In a few hours things will begin heating up at 1104 south Wabash. For the record i've never seen that many people all crammed into Qvimbys all at one time. Also the art show and corresponding Gadabout film fest added a nice touch later in the night.

In other news: Fall Out Boy is on indefinte hiatus/broke up as of the first week of February (I dont think there has been any significant Redwalls news)- so consider that in the fob/redwalls dichotomy. However, use the key/ride up troys bucket is pretty fixed. As of this writing, I still have not heard any responses to those questions from the organizers. I'll keep in mind what Monika Nunez wrote over two months ago.

I guess I thought there would have been more activity on WMZs in regard to the CZF, but hey, it is what it is.

Don't forget that at 7:30pm tonight there is an afterparty at Ball Hall with music and readings and its free, what?!

There's definitely plans for a second one. I'm not sure when planning will start up, but I imagine toward the end of summer. I'm sure you'll see lots of posts once we get going with talking about this again.

Joe Wallace said:

I just found this thread and was wondering if another Chicago zinefest is planned or if the one that happened in March was a one-off. Would love to see a part two.

Thanks Ramsey! Glad to hear another one is in the works. Do you sell your work at Quimby's? I'm headed that way later today and will keep an eye open for it :-)

ramsey everydaypants said:

There's definitely plans for a second one. I'm not sure when planning will start up, but I imagine toward the end of summer. I'm sure you'll see lots of posts once we get going with talking about this again.

Joe Wallace said:

I just found this thread and was wondering if another Chicago zinefest is planned or if the one that happened in March was a one-off. Would love to see a part two.

I think I don't have anything currently in stock at Quimby's. I make a zine called List.

The other key organizers last year make zines called The Lonely Hippopotamus (Leslie), Effigy (Matt), The Muse, the News and the Noose (Johnny), and one of them works at Quimby's. His name is Neil! He makes some mini comics that are available at Quimby's I'm sure.

Joe Wallace said:

Thanks Ramsey! Glad to hear another one is in the works. Do you sell your work at Quimby's? I'm headed that way later today and will keep an eye open for it :-)

ramsey everydaypants said:

There's definitely plans for a second one. I'm not sure when planning will start up, but I imagine toward the end of summer. I'm sure you'll see lots of posts once we get going with talking about this again.

Joe Wallace said:

I just found this thread and was wondering if another Chicago zinefest is planned or if the one that happened in March was a one-off. Would love to see a part two.

Excellent! Thanks much for the titles, will look for them. I've seen the Lonely Hippopotamus before but the others don't ring a bell...yet. Thanks again :-)

ramsey everydaypants said:

I think I don't have anything currently in stock at Quimby's. I make a zine called List.

The other key organizers last year make zines called The Lonely Hippopotamus (Leslie), Effigy (Matt), The Muse, the News and the Noose (Johnny), and one of them works at Quimby's. His name is Neil! He makes some mini comics that are available at Quimby's I'm sure.

Joe Wallace said:

Thanks Ramsey! Glad to hear another one is in the works. Do you sell your work at Quimby's? I'm headed that way later today and will keep an eye open for it :-)

ramsey everydaypants said:

There's definitely plans for a second one. I'm not sure when planning will start up, but I imagine toward the end of summer. I'm sure you'll see lots of posts once we get going with talking about this again.

Joe Wallace said:

I just found this thread and was wondering if another Chicago zinefest is planned or if the one that happened in March was a one-off. Would love to see a part two.